The Central Bank of the Netherlands, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) has also issued an official warning against Binance.
According to the bank, Binance is providing crypto services in the country without the required registration. The bank is stating that any crypto exchange has to register with the DNB in order to provide crypto services in the country.
So now, the bank finds the exchange not complying with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulation. This is in addition to non-compliance with the anti-terrorist financing (WWFT) regulations.
The bank has also issued an official announcement explicitly stating:
“[Binance] is illegally offering services for the exchange between virtual and fiduciary currencies and it is illegally offering custodian wallets.”
DNB stated that if users are using Binance for crypto services, the risk of involvement in money laundering & terrorism financing becomes significantly high.
Moreover, DNB publishes a register of crypto services providers legally authorized in the country. Currently, there’s no mention of Binance.
Now, Binance is at risk of getting its site blocked in the Netherlands. Moreover, in order to operate now, It has to obtain authorization. Unfortunately, that process isn’t exactly fast and takes some time. So for now, it looks like Binance would have to temporarily close all its services to Dutch customers. This is till the time they get a license to operate in the country.
While Binance can circumvent those laws for a short while just like Binance U.S, it seems unlikely. Since the Dutch market is inferior in terms of clients and trading volumes, the amount of resources and investment is not justifiable as of now.
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